Monday, November 05, 2007

Spiegel Online has a story today about the neo-Nazi National Unity Day march in Moscow at Kutosovsky Prospect yesterday. An estimated 2,000 people participated in the march and rally. The Spiegel article attempts to capture the stupidity and shallowness of the Russian neo-Nazi movement, and to explain the Kremlin and other government officials apparent tolerance of far-right nationalism, as contrasted with complete intolerance of the liberal left. This was the 3rd annual such march in Moscow. While last years march resulted in many arrests, this year Moscow police issued a march permit for a relatively low-traffic area of the city.

The march included the cowboy hat wearing Preston Wiginton, a white supremacist from Texas. Wiginton spoke to the crowd, cheering "Glory to Russia," with the audience responding "white power" back to him in English.

Hey, so there is something we Americans and Russians have in common. Racist bigots. Hurray.

"Russia for Russians!" the demonstrators shouted in unison, followed by slogans such as "For a Slavic, Russian nation!" or "Slavic, Russian, Powerful!" The demonstrators stretched out their arms in the Hitler salute between slogans. Their loud shouts of "Slavic Russia!" were followed by the sound of drum rolls.

"We are opposed to the immigration of Caucasians and Asians to Russia. Our people must remain pure. Russia belongs to us," 32-year-old Andrey Bukov explains. The trained media expert says he has been "serving" in the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) for four years. He waves its white, yellow and black flag, which features a symbol resembling a swastika.

Nineteen-year-old Sergei carries the red flag of his group -- the "Slavic Union" -- tied around his shoulders. "We Russians are part of the white race," he says. "The blacks -- the Caucasians, the Chechens, the Dagestani -- should stay away," says the Muscovite, a student at the Finance Academy.

If the use of the word Caucasians in the negative sounds unfamiliar to the less traveled American readers, it is because while we use the word Caucasian to indicate anyone of white race, Russians (and many Europeans) use the word to indicate people from the Caucasus Mountains. Again, for the unfamiliar - many Russians perceive such people to be non-white.

The utter brilliance of the marchers is demonstrated further into the Spiegel article, by a short interview with Olga and Darya:

Pensioner Monika Nikolayeva [says] "When it comes to our children, there is not even enough money to send them to university in Russia." That is why she believes it is good that young people take to the streets and protest. "Young girls in particular only get limited education!"

The young girls she means are technical university students like Olga and Darya, who are marching beneath the flags. "We're against everything. We're patriots," rants 18-year-old Olga. She and her 19-year-old friend have traveled to Moscow from Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia to attend the demonstration. Asked what they are demonstrating against, she is at a loss for a moment. Then she stutters: "Against the anti-Russian policy in the world -- I can't say it any more clearly."

Further analysis in the article is provided by Andreas Umland, "an expert in comparative fascism studies who specializes in Russia." Mr. Umland believes that these neo-nazi's are welcome bogeymen by the Kremlin, that their existence justifies strong-armed tactics by the government, with the increased use of extremism laws and other crack-downs on civil liberties. Of course, the Kremlin and law enforcement officials seem loathe to use those laws and measures against the ultra-nationalist bogeymen, preferring instead to crack the heads and knuckles of any organized liberal parties and individuals who dare fault or make a jokeabout Putin.

From the Associated Press article on the event:

"This is just an outbreak of national identity feelings, which is noticeable worldwide, and it has affected Russia too," said Vyacheslav Postavnin, deputy director of the Federal Migration Service, the Interfax news agency reported.

In the first Russian March in 2005, thousands marched through central Moscow, some shouting "Heil Hitler." The march horrified many Muscovites, and the following year it was blocked by police.

"The first Russian March was unexpected good luck, the second one was about overcoming the resistance of the authorities, and the third one is already a new Russian tradition," said Konstantin Krylov of the nationalist Russian Social Movement.

I encourage you to read the rest of the article for additional details and observations by Simone Schlindwein.

Other marches on National Unity Day included the Yabloko party rally against fascism and xenophobia. The pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group assembled a "peace quilt" from the contributions of thousands of young people across Russia.

Sean's Russia Blog discusses how National Unity Day has actually served to highlight Russia's fractured and disunited nature. Neo-Nazi marches certainly add an exclamation point to his discussion. Save to del.icio.us

27 comments:

"The Spiegel article attempts to capture the stupidity and shallowness of the Russian neo-Nazi movement, and to explain the Kremlin and other government officials apparent tolerance of far-right nationalism, as contrasted with complete intolerance of the liberal left."

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Rascals have rights and the so called "liberal left" has its own issues amomng some in that flock.

In New York, a Croat Ustasha sympathizing musician had a concert.

There's a difference between expressing intolerant views and acting violently. In the US, a land mark case in Skokie, Illinois established the right of Nazis to congregate. That right was defended by the anti-Nazi ACLU.

All this relates to the Voltaire quote about respecting the right to express a view while not agreeing with it.

In point of fact, violent Russian bigots have been apprehended in Russia.

"Of course, the Kremlin and law enforcement officials seem loathe to use those laws and measures against the ultra-nationalist bogeymen, preferring instead to crack the heads and knuckles of any organized liberal parties and individuals who dare fault or make a joke about Putin."

I'm going to have to see some actual data regarding enforcement of these laws, prosecution patterns and so forth, before I actually believe this is true.

I've actually linked to the most recent cases where a jokes about Putin, attributed to Gennady Zyuganov and printed in a Communist party newsletter in Novosibirsk, led to an investigation by the FSB under the Russian extremism law. That article also cites Vladimir Rakhmankov case, where he was prosecuted for making a joke, calling Putin the country's "Phallic Symbol".

The fact is, under the Russian extremism laws, the neo-Nazi marches shouldn't be permitted at all. But they are permitted and to some extent even protected by the government. The same can't be said of similar marches by more liberal fringe groups or parties.

I think this steers all politics in Russia further to the right or extreme right, and to some extent legitimizes racist points of view.

I would love to get my hands on a comprehensive list of arrests for various groups and marches across Russia. But obviously, no such data exists and would be open to some interpretation.

I'm actually rather surprised that Russia doesn't have laws strictly banning neo-Nazi organizations, paraphernalia, writing, etc., much like Germany. Arguably, no nation suffered more than Russia during that war.

"The same can't be said of similar marches by more liberal fringe groups or parties."

But they do march...

"I'm actually rather surprised that Russia doesn't have laws strictly banning neo-Nazi organizations, paraphernalia, writing, etc., much like Germany. Arguably, no nation suffered more than Russia during that war."

True on both points.

This link was forwarded to me by someone who said it was extremely biased, but anyway: http://xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB4208/9D8E370?

Regarding liberals marching - I thought Kasparov and his bunch were actually denied a permit for their last march, and they went ahead and did it anyway and were promptly dispersed by police, etc?

It seems pretty clear to me that Russian extremism laws should permit facists to march and preach hatred.

In a conversation with a Russian friend of mine about this, I summarized my observations as follows: "any liberal is labeled as being an agent of the West or USA ... but the facists - they are assholes, but at least they are russian assholes."

Actually i think you are right that the liberals are often viewed rightly or wrongly as Western agents, whereas the nationalits are not.

Although I would like to point out that Other Russia, though people keep refering to it as liberal, is about 80% NBP.

IIRC what usually happens with Other Russia is that they request a particular marching area, get told that they have to go somewhere else, and then show up at the first place after having given the word to foreign journalists so they can get themselves being oppressed on film. That's what happened in Moscow anyway.

I know they actually brought people in from cities in surrounding regions by bus for that one, to create a crowd. My wife's cousin took it as an opportunity for a free bus ride into Moscow. She grabbed their early morning bus, didn't go to the march rally, but instead went shopping and took a train home.

I'm generally the first in line to criticize remarks about Russia or Putin being fascists, etc. However, Russia seems soft on these neo-Nazi fascist types. I'm quite sure they could be prevented from marching or prosecuted under the existing extremism laws.

Regarding Robyn Hitchcock - yes, I'm a fan of lots of quirky music. The first album of his that I ever purchased was Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Gotta Let This Hen Out. It's a great live album, I still know practically every word to those songs. I'm less familiar with his Soft Boys stuff, but I should probably find and give it a listen.

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